senegal

Our stay in Senegal was the longest port of our journey so far. Partly because of everything we were doing. We arrived in Senegal and were moored in a shipping dock just minutes away from the center of Dakar. Curfew was different in this port we were only allowed out until 6 pm because of “safety concerns” in actual fact Dakar was just as safe as any other city in the world as long as you don’t go into the sketchy parts. Dakar is the most foreign place I think I will ever go in my entire life. The streets are moving with people and everyone is trying to sell you something. You can buy pretty much anything in Dakar I think fake headphone fake Ray Banns or “Ray Panns” fake watches, shoes, cologne, phones, computers anything you can think of. Dakar has this massive market in the middle of town which has all of these goodies. It also has car parts; boy do they have car parts. Crate engines, alternators, starters, fuel pumps, fan belts shrouds, hoses, belts, car panels, front bumpers, lights anything and everything you need. All of these parts originate from developed countries and once the cars are worn out there they get shipped to developing nations like Senegal and get used for another 20 to 30 years. The taxis are crazy there hundreds of them they seem to be everywhere and they have no meters so you have to negotiate a price BEFORE you get in. The seats are the comfiest seats ive evr sat on I think that’s because of the thousands of people that have sat in them. I was surprised though when I got there I didn’t expect it to be as developed as it actually was. They had extremely good grocery stores a fantastic bakery, electronic stores, BMW garages. All things I wasn’t really expecting.

            We spent two days at our homestays in Senegal I was partnered with Johan a boy from Switzerland. English isn’t his first language but he spoke French fluently, which is the main language in Senegal apart from the native language of Wolof. Without him the homestays wouldn’t have been as enjoyable because of the language barrier between our homestays family and us. We were staying about half an hours taxi ride away from the boat slightly out of Dakar. The house was 4 stories including a roof terrace. We were on the ground floor along with our homestays immediate family. The house had all the amenities running water and electricity I was surprised how ‘modern’ the house was and how much they had this family I think was doing fairly well. There were things about the house, which were very different from home the kitchen was very primitive and dirty also and there was no sit down toilet. It was a squat toilet with a shower overtop also there was no toilet paper luckily we both brought our own.  The house was situated in a very crowded neighborhood. The streets were sand and there was a communal garbage burning pile right across the street.  We learned a lot about how Muslim Senegalese families interact with each other when greeting the women of a household you hold their right hand with both of yours. Everyone eats together, a large circular dish is placed on a carpet on the floor and everyone sits around it and eats a section. Different vegetables and one type of meat usually fish or chicken is placed in the middle. While eating it is good etiquette to share your vegetable with the people around you the meat is divided equally between the whole family. Its traditional to eat with your hands and the only other utensil is a spoon so ripping off a piece of chicken for yourself isn’t the easiest. The women who cooked the food ripped it all apart for everyone, in our experience.  By the time we were about to depart I was ready to leave Senegal and Africa in general being away from home is difficult in its own ways but then  adding in a foreign developing nation that is extremely different from what you are used to puts it to a new extreme. Being on the ship helped with keeping the sanity I don’t think I could have gone there just staying in a hotel. None the less I enjoyed my time there and had many great experiences.